The William Jewell College Students in Free Enterprise team is partnering with Girl Scouts of Mid-Continent Council to sponsor a special one-day seminar focusing on “Technology Powered by Women.” The event for young women ages 12 to 18 is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 1 on the William Jewell College campus in Liberty, Mo. A $20 entry fee includes all seminar presentations, lunch and a commemorative t-shirt. Registration details and additional information can be obtained by calling 816-415-7870.

“According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, between 2002 and 2012 there is an anticipated 78% increase in computer related occupations.” said Angela Klein, assistant professor of information and computer science at William Jewell. “Currently, women make up only 28 percent of professionals in these fields. We want to help change the demographics of this workforce. “Technology Powered by Women” is aimed at providing young women with a positive exposure to the field of computer science.”

“Technology Powered by Women” will provide an opportunity for hands-on experience, group discussion and networking. This year’s event will be kicked off with a panel discussion of women professionals from the Kansas City followed by lunch and a series of three workshops conducted by women professors and professionals from the Kansas City area. Participants can choose breakout sessions on such topics as ALICE programming, Lego Mindstorm and web design. Parents of workshop participants are also invited to attend ($10 fee).

In addition to William Jewell College and the Girl Scouts of Mid-Continent Council, participating organizations include Federal Reserve Bank, Server Centric Consulting, PStrada, Tyco Electronics, Paola Kansas Robotics Team and the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Angela M. Klein William Jewell College Angela is assistant professor of information systems at William Jewell College. She has been teaching in higher education for 7 years. She has also worked for more than 10 years as an information technology professional in the financial and healthcare industries. She specializes in systems development and audit/governance of technology. Klein has served in various leadership capacities for the Information Audit and Security Association and has led a student chapter of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM). She regularly presents for the Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges (CCSC) and works with the Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) to promote computer science education in grades K-12.

Jeanne Johnson Server Centric Consulting Jeanne Johnson is the principal and co-founder of Server Centric Consulting, a boutique information technology services firm headquartered in St. Louis, Mo. Server Centric provides technical engineering services for virtualization, optimization and secure access of data to the Fortune 1000, government, education and healthcare companies, including A.G. Edwards, AT&T and H&R Block. Johnson is recognized nationally in the area of virtualization and data center optimization as a member of the Partner Technical Expert Councils for VMware and Citrix software companies. She is a featured contributor for VARBusiness Magazine and is the creator of Geek DayTM, the largest private business technical hands-on event in the Midwest.

Patrice Manuel P/Strada, LLC Patrice W. Manuel is the owner of P/Strada, LLC. She is a Project Management Institute-certified Project Management Professional and has over 20 years of project management experience, having held leadership positions in advanced technology, modeling and simulation, homeland security, total quality management, logistics and system planning, research, development and engineering. She is currently a coach for Fast Trac Program (business development for entrepreneurs) with the Kauffman Foundation. P/Strada was named New Business of the Year 2002 for Kansas City during the Minority Enterprise Development Week. P/Strada is listed as one of the Top 25 Management Consulting firms in the Kansas City Business Journal. Clients include representatives from both the public and private sectors.

Judy Mullins University of Missouri-Kansas City Judy Mullins is an instructor in computer science. She holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science. Her expertise is in programming and data management. Mullins is a member of the Consortium of Small Computing Colleges and promotes computer science education for all ages.

Kathy Shirk and the Panther Robotics Team Paola, Kansas High School Kathy Shirk serves on the faculty at Paola High School and as faculty sponsor of Paola Panther Robotics Team. The goal of the Panther Robotics Team is to share excitement for science, technology and engineering. The Panthers have won the top award at the regional level of the FIRST competition (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) for the past three consecutive years. Shirk and her students will lead the Lego Mindstorm workshop, which is an exploration of robotics.

Lindsay Lewick Federal Reserve Bank Lewick is a 2005 William Jewell College graduate in computer science. She is a manager within IT Administrative Services for the Federal Reserve Bank. She is also working on a master’s degree at UMKC. She has been an avid supporter of William Jewell College and the Computer and Information Science Program since graduation.

Suzanne Hommertzheim Tyco Electronics Hommertzheim retired from SBC after 24-plus years in their Information Technology organization, where she was responsible for design, analysis, planning and detailed engineering. Currently she is employed with Tyco Electronics as a sales engineer covering northwestern Missouri and Kansas. In this position she is responsible for providing technology updates, assistance in the areas of project management and acts as factory liaison to customers for special orders, product enhancements and training. Hommertzheim is also an adjunct professor for ITT Technical Institute in Kansas City. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas in business administration, an M.B.A. from Oklahoma City University; a master’s degree in telecommunications systems management from Southern Methodist University.